Roleplay:Main Forum/Training Arena/This is Nata Duel of the Fate(s)

This arena is essentially a small abandoned city, overgrown with vegetation and some of the buildings crumbling in decay.

Located in the middle of the arena is a small abandoned park, with a pond

This arena has all the typical things you'd find in an abandoned overgrown city, everything from flat surfaces to small buildings to tall skyscrapers, some crumbling, some still standing, lots of dark places to hide, including an underground subway tunnel. There are abandoned cars, and things can still be found within the buildings, perhaps even a few stray cats or dogs, or some smaller creatures such as rats and spiders.

The arena is open to the sky and elements

This arena also possesses a more rural arena, possessing large mansions, estates and houses.

Contents

Word Bubbles

"It is with youth as with plants; from the first fruits they bear we learn what may be expected in future."

Benny walks into the Urban Arena. Lazarus wanted him to try improve his sword-fighting and general action in the field, so the trainers had booked Benny a training match against someone around his age. Apparently, she’s a daughter of Astraeus. He’s wearing light leather armour, cartoon sneakers and a green t-shirt underneath for mobility and comfort. His slingshot is clipped onto his belt, a handful of CB ammunition and he has a bag of marbles in his pocket. I wonder how I’ll do. I hope I make you proud mom. Same to you, Alex. Walking towards the park where the two had arranged to meet. The place is overgrown with trees, and there’s a rusted play-ground nearby. He kneels down near a pond and watches a family of ducks go by, playing with his dinosaur bracelet while he waits. Remember everything Laz taught you...

– "Youth, enthusiasm, and tenderness, are like the days of spring; instead of complaining of their brevity try to enjoy them."

Character's Powers

====Offensive====

Children of Hebe have the ability to force the effects of age upon a person for a short time; making them feel pain and cause their movements to be slow and sedated.

Children of Hebe can become temporarily changed during battle and become even stronger and quicker in combat than they were before, for a short time.

Defensive

Children of Hebe can become resistant to all types of physical attacks for a short time.

Children of Hebe can cause an opponent to feel aching bones and muscles for a short time.

Passive

Children of Hebe are innately stronger and faster due to their slow aging.

Children of Hebe have an innately faster rate of healing than other people.

Children of Hebe always have an unlimited supply of Ambrosia, even if none is on them at the time, they can create it out of nothing

Supplementary

Children of Hebe can restore energy to a weakened person and heal some minor wounds.

3 Months After a Character is Made

Children of Hebe are able to curse someone with being very young children again, this has the potential to cause the victim a feeling of being lost, helpless and often leading to fits of crying, this only lasts for a short time and drains the user considerably.

6 Months After a Character is Made

Children of Hebe have the ability to strike someone with a curse of old age for a short time; however, the person will not only feel old, they will become old and be unable to fight or even defend themselves, this also drains the user for a considerable time while using the power

9 Months After a Character is Made

Children of Hebe can bless water to have the effects of allowing whomever drinks it to feel young again for a short time, their appearance may also take on a more youthful appearance for as long as the effects last.

Traits

These children age slower than normally, beginning around the age of 12, and retain a youthful appearance far longer than most.

"Set your course by the stars, not by the light of every passing ship."

Under ideal circumstances Aria would have arrived a nice, comfortable 15 minutes early, like a good little overachiever should. But the circumstances now were hardly ideal, or nice, or comfortable. While trying to reach the park quickly, Aria had very sensibly decided to hop/hover over fences. In a decaying city. Full of debris. And sharp things. That hurt to land on. Haste truly did make waste; while leaping over the wrought-iron fence surrounding the park, her unzipped jacket had gotten caught on a pointy top bit, and she had plummeted onto the shattered remains of a window. Aria's recently-torn cotton jacket had offered next to no protection (she really should consider getting actual armor soon), leaving her with cuts distributed across her entire right side. Gah. Thankfully, most of the lacerations appeared to be shallow, with minimal embedding of foreign matter (glass in this case) in the wounds. Reasoning she had tended to her injuries the best she could at the moment and that she was already late enough, Aria picked herself up and trudged into the park. "Heh. Broken sunglasses, ripped clothes, muddy shoes, and blood everywhere. At least I blend in with this dystopia now," Aria muttered with a wry grin. "Hope I don't confuse the other guy too much..."

Children of Astraeus have the ability to conjure weapons out of plasma which can be used for combat; however, only one weapon can be conjured at a time and it cannot be bigger than the one who conjured it.

Children of Astraeus have the ability to focus an intense beam of plasma which will burn anything it touches.

Defensive

Children of Astraeus have the ability to summon a cluster of miniature stars directly in front of them which can be used to block incoming attacks; the stars, however, dissipate quickly.

Children of Astraeus generate an orbit around themselves for a short time, all attacks and people near the user get caught in the orbit, causing them to fly around, unable to attack the user. The user cannot move while the orbit is active.

Passive

Children of Astraeus are innately stronger during the night.

Children of Astraeus have the innate ability to see in all directions at once during the night.

Children of Astraeus can innately adapt to most natural planetary environments within reason, meaning they're less likely to die of heat stroke and hypothermia.

Supplementary

Children of Astraeus have the ability to create temporary light sources, similar to concept of a flare, which will alight an area or blind an enemy for a short time.

Children of Astraeus can manipulate the force of gravity of the planet and change the direction and force of it. They can cause items to float or stick to the ground for a short time or cause them to fly into a certain direction. Once the curse wears off, the item is immune to further use of it for a moderate time.

Children of Astraeus have the ability to use the gravity pull of the planet to slow down enemies for a short time, giving them a high chance to avoid an opponent’s attack or prevent an opponent from avoiding one of the user’s attacks.

Children of Astraeus can limit gravity’s effect on their own bodies, causing them to float up and fly. The longer they fly the more it drains them.

3 Months After Character is Made

Children of Astraeus have the ability to conjure a small supernova, which will burn at anything in its wake on a 10m radius, as well as producing a loud booming sound coming from the explosion. It cannot differ friend from foe and will affect anyone or anything nearby.

6 Months After Character is Made

Children of Astraeus have the power to cause up to three constellations to appear in their physical forms to fight alongside them. Each constellation will appear as an enlarged version of the thing it is based on except for human based constellations such as Orion which will be the size of a human. Constellations will dissipate after a short time, leaving the user moderately drained. Ex: If the user summons the Cancer constellation, it will be a giant crab that cannot be bigger than 2 or 3 times the size of the user.

9 Months After Character is Made

Children of Astraeus have the ability to change the surface and mass of their bodies to reflect the surface and mass of a planet in the solar system of their choice for a short time. For example, if the user wishes to turn their body into flames, they would adopt the surface of Mercury. No matter which planet they choose to assimilate with, they will be extremely drained after the transformation and they can only use the power once per fight. They may switch planets while in this state. Ex: The user is reflecting Earth to reach an opponent and then reflects Mercury to attack them. Once in this state, they lose access to their other powers. Excluding those that are passive.

As Mercury, the user’s body would be continually be on fire without injuring the user. In this state it is extremely difficult for enemies to look upon the user as the fire burns so bright it would blind them or severely damage their eyesight.

As Venus, the user becomes surrounded with thick, toxic clouds that obscure them from view. As the clouds are toxic anyone who tries to touch them will be poisoned and become sick and nauseous. However, if they manage to get through the clouds they will be burned by the lava state of the user’s body, as Venus is an extremely hot planet.

As Earth, the user’s body becomes gravelly and made of dirt, and the user may leave trails of gravel and dirt behind them as they walk. However, in this state the user has the ability to merge with the earth and travel wherever they please.

As Mars, the user’s body becomes coated in fine red dust that falls off as they move. The surface of their body is cut by fine veins of water that can be used to shoot at people in sharp streams.

As Jupiter, the user becomes intangible and they float about half a foot from the ground, as Jupiter is a gas giant planet. They also become extremely cold and toxic as Jupiter is surrounded by ammonia clouds.

As Saturn, the user is granted the ability to fly, as the planet is another gas giant. The appearance of the user is blurry and hard to make out the features of.

As Uranus, the user gains blue skin, and their appearance is also blurred similarly to if they assimilated to Saturn. As Uranus is classified as an ice planet, the user has the ability to freeze anything they come in contact and they can move quickly as there are extremely fast winds on Uranus.

Traits

Children of Astraeus often wield innate knowledge of constellations, space and other planets in the solar system.

Children of Astraeus can tell the time, date and their location simply by looking at the sky.

Children of Astraeus typically dream of becoming astronauts, to explore the stars and other planets.

Pre-RP

Benny: Humming to himself, Benny looks down towards the ducks. Wish I had some bread to feed them. The directors probably feed them or something. Hearing a loud clattering noise, he glances over to see a girl around his age with dark hair. As she comes closer, he notices the tears on her jacket. She looks injured, like she's been dragged through a hedge or been torn through climbing some kind of fence. Benny makes a mental note of this. She's likely to be slower than him, or at least clumsier. I'll be careful today. I want to make Laz proud, not end up as swiss cheese. Walking up to the girl, he smiles cheerfully. "Um hi, are you Aria?..." He scratches the side of his head, before offering her a handshake. "I can help with that, if you want..." Fumbling in his pockets, he hands her a chunk of ambrosia. "I'm Benny, son of Hebe. It's, um...nice to meet you..."

Aria: Crap, her opponent was here already, and he looked like such a nice person it made Aria feel even worse about making him wait in the middle of a deserted city as she ran about breaking things, mostly herself. The boy--Benny--introduced himself with much friendliness, though he seemed a little shy. (It was official. Aria had finally managed to make awkwardness contagious. Whoop-dee-freaking-doo.) Oooh, he had ambrosia, awesome! If Aria recalled correctly, Hebe kids were able to spontaneously generate ambrosia, which defied all matter conservation laws and definitely warranted further investigation (though basically everything else at camp also defied physical laws). She'd have to ask Benny about it sometime if she managed not to completely weird him out after this. "Oh, thanks!" Aria smiled, accepting the ambrosia. "Yep, I'm Aria, one of Astraeus' kids. Fantastic to meet you too, though I did hope that I'd be slightly more presentable while making a first impression," she remarked, inspecting the ambrosia chunk for any structural differences that might give it its incredible regeneration abilities.

Benny: Thankfully he's able to save some of the ambrosia. Although Hebe kids could generate it at will, he liked to carry some for emergencies and reduce the amount of energy he spent fixing himself up. His mentor Alex had taught him to always be on the lookout for ways to keep himself going for as long as possible. "It's no problem..." Benny giggles. "I actually got a chance to scout the arena, and see some ducks while I was at it. I wish I could summon some bread to feed them." He says, sticking his tongue out childishly. His battle senses go into overdrive, and his ADHD starts to kick in. The son of Hebe shakes a little, distracted by bird noises in the near distance. "I don't mind helping you train. I got loads of training back home." He shrugs. She seems really smart, her eyes intently focused on the ambrosia. He reminds himself to be wary. "C'mon, let's start. It'll feel awesome when you get into it!"

Aria: Aria looked away from the mysterious golden delicacy and towards the pond. "Aw, the ducks are pretty cute! Though feeding them bread actually isn't the best for them, since it's not very nutritional and pollutes the water if the ducks don't eat it. Here," she rummaged through her backpack with one hand while holding the ambrosia in the other. Taking out her lunchbox (food was always handy to have around), Aria removed a small container filled with brown rice. "This is somewhat more natural for ducks. If you want, we can feed them after our match is done!" she beamed. "Sure, let's go! Before we start, though, what are the rules we're using?" Aria asked, quickly consuming the ambrosia.

​Benny: His eyes light up as ducks are mentioned. “Yeah, that’s awesome. We’ll come back and feed them.” Benny grins eagerly. It’s nice to make a new friend, and Aria seems really nice. His nerves go away a little. At least she wouldn’t be mean. “Um….” Benny stops for a moment. He’s not really sure what rules to use. Lazarus and Alex trained him to fight in everyday situations. “I guess we could just use our weapons, and avoid vulnerable areas.” He points to the eyes and also taps certain points of the body which are more likely to take damage. “We can stop any-time, and I’ll heal us both up.”

The Fight

Benny: Benny’s sword manifests in his right hand, as his dinosaur bracelet's activated. He glances towards Aria, knowing that any blows he made could hurt her. Deciding to test the waters, he feints right to try and catch her off guard. Soon afterwards, he steps left to in a semi-circle to try and get behind her. He slams his elbow towards Aria’s side/back, hoping to make her stumble or knock any weapons, which she may have, out of her hands.

Aria: Dang, Benny started quickly! Aria had been watching her wounds start healing and didn't notice his sword approaching until it arced past her shoulder. Reflexively she jolted away from it... right where Benny's elbow was waiting. Wincing a bit, Aria tripped forward a few steps before wheeling around and refocusing on the fight. "Nice!" Aria called to him. Gotta pay attention, he knows what he's doing, she reckoned, materializing her plasma sword and gripping it with both hands. Swordfighting wasn't Aria's best skill area, but she very much needed to practice it, so she'd give this duel her best effort and aim to improve! After briefly pausing to think of the best course of action, Aria stepped back towards Benny and aimed a slice towards his legs in an attempt to push him backwards.

Benny: As Aria summons the plasma blade, the son of Hebe quickly takes advantage of his momentum and stumbles backwards, narrowly avoiding the fiery red blade. “Whoa, that’s cool….” Glancing behind him, Benny looks for an exit strategy. Spotting the fence which Aria scaled to gain access to the park, he judges that it’s his best chance of escape. He reaches into his pocket and throws some marbles towards her face, hoping she’d instinctively stumble back. Then he dashes towards the fence, as fast as his little legs can carry him, which (being a child of Hebe with slow aging), is pretty fast. It’s likely she’ll struggle to catch up with him, especially with a dangerous blade in both hands. “Run fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the ginger-bread man…” Benny sticks his tongue out childishly, as he reaches the fence and begins to climb.

Aria: Suddenly marbles began flying at Aria's face. She swatted at them with her arms, praying to the gods that they weren't rigged to explode or catch on fire or something. Gah, now he was running away, and taunting her while he did so! "Dude, aren't you basically my age?" Aria laughed, dissipating her sword to save as much energy as possible. Running had never really been her forte, and simply following Benny around would just allow him to lead her into some sneaky pitfall before she could even quote Admiral Ackbar. Hmm... Five seconds later, a suitable plan came to mind. Taking one last look at Benny's fleeing form, Aria sprinted parallel to the fence for twenty yards before veering abruptly behind an abandoned apartment complex.

Benny: While Aria circumnavigates the 20 yard fence, Benny swiftly vaults over the fence and gains access to the abandoned apartment complex, which takes the form of a series of studio flats, united by a communal foyer. He squeezes through an extremely narrow side window.. To his knowledge, the daughter of Astraeus is hot on his heels and he has no time to lose. Getting an idea, he decides to raid a nearby handyman’s cupboard for supplies. He finds some electrical wire, a box of nails and some half-open paint cans. Hurriedly, he stuffs them into a bag and starts to set up basic trip-wires on the main doors and the stairs which lead towards the upstairs apartments. Years of practice and ambidexterity allow him to set them up pretty quickly, attaching the paint cans which are hoisted up and held in place by a knot. They're rigged to spill the contents over any intruders. Tyler would love this. An image of his crush, covered in bright acrylic paint pops into his head. Giggling, he looks around for a vantage point where he can hide and wait for his opponent.

Aria: It was at this location a few minutes ago that Aria had fallen onto a window. Warily she gathered the larger glass shards and placed them in her backpack, which had contained only a lunchbox and a tactical flashlight before. As Aria had recalled before faceplanting, on the pavement behind the complex sat three large dumpsters. She dashed to the one filled with recyclables and grabbed a crate to stand on while she rummaged through. Not finding what she'd been looking for a minute later, Aria huffed at the unnecessary expenditure of time. Benny could be anywhere within a half-mile radius by now; who knew what he had in mind? She looked around for anything that could help her. Hmm, the complex before her looked rather like Kevin's death fortress from Home Alone 2, which made Aria somewhat uncomfortable about entering, no matter what strategical advantage it could offer. For all she knew, the city could be like a Hunger Games arena with built-in traps (*cough* conveniently placed broken windows *cough*) to test demigods' survival abilities. Staying obscured in the shadows behind the building, Aria considered her options and finally decided upon Plan C. If she didn't want to go into the building, she could instead go onto it and gain an excellent vantage point (it was taller than anything else nearby, anyways) without wasting more time and energy on traps. Jumping to get an initial boost, Aria used gravity manipulation to fly onto the flat rooftop, landing somewhere that seemed safe. Now, where could Benny be? she wondered, looking over the low wall surrounding the roof at the city below.

Benny: Benny briefly scouts the rest of the complex. The complex is surrounded by several low-level buildings, close enough for him to leap between them if necessary. He winds up the last of the electrical wire, and puts it into his bag with the set of nails. The building seems to be largely empty, and he passes through without much incident. He has a couple of scrapes, but nothing his accelerated healing couldn’t take care of. “Where’s Aria?” He mutters to himself. Lazarus had mentioned something about the arenas being created with all kinds of crawl-spaces and entry points. It’s possible for two demi-gods to navigate the arena, without really seeing each other. Normally his training emphasised avoiding conflict, and using the environment to avoid the energy loss generated by power use. However, Benny decides it’s probably a good idea to find another vantage point and track Aria down, so he can wear down her stamina. Looking out some nearby windows, the son of Hebe spots a nearby fire-escape. He lifts up the window-sill, and then wedges his small body underneath. "I’m gonna kick some butt." Carefully, he lands on the fire escape and starts to climb the stairs. As he’s not used any of his powers, the son of Hebe is still pretty spry, and he enjoys scaling the building. It’s much easier than climbing trees. There’s a brief flash of movement as Aria flies onto the rooftop. Running up the stairs, Benny takes out his slingshot and fires off several CB rounds, which should hopefully aggravate or disorientate his opponent. “Gotcha…”

Aria: A noise from the side of the building set off Aria's paranoia system, and she materialized her sword in case it was Benny or an omnicidal monster bird creature or something. Something flew at her face and she moved her sword to block it, thinking it could be a marble or whatever Benny had thrown last time. Immediately after, another object came flying from the same direction, then another. Ah, Benny or the monster were coming from the stairs, then. Crouching by a wall next to the stairs' landing and hiding behind an AC unit, Aria waited for one of the two to appear, intending to attack from an unexpected angle. It's probably Benny. He seems like a pretty experienced fighter, but here's to hoping that this just might work!

Benny: He runs straight up the fire escape. His ears pick up a crackling sound, as the CB ammunition clashes with Aria’s plasma sword. Benny judges that she’s nearby, waiting to set up an ambush. The rooftops are flat, so he should have seen her if she tried to run away. He darts to the nearest AC cooler, opposite to Aria. As he takes cover, he crouches and peeks his head out. I think it's Aria. I'm pretty good at hide and seek, but I'd better be ready if she finds me. I don't want to get burnt by her sword or her powers.

Aria: Over the hum of her sword Aria what sounded like quick footsteps. They seemed to be coming closer, then they suddenly stopped. "Come on... walk a little further..." she hoped. "...No? That's fine, too!" Deciding to take a bit of a risk, Aria stepped out from behind the AC unit and looked around for any movement.

Benny: Seeing Aria walk out of cover, he draws his slingshot and aims a round of CB ammunition towards the nearby AC cooler switches. With any luck, they should turn on and create enough noise to hide his movements for a short period of time. He tucks his slingshot into the back of his jeans and channels his youth towards his muscles to increase his speed. He runs to the right and vaults over an AC cooler, throwing himself into a dodge roll. Landing near Aria, his sword materialises in his right hand. He targets a strike towards her elbow, hoping to throw her off and disrupt the plasma sword. "Tag! You're it...."

Aria: A clattering sound drew Aria's attention to the units' control switch box an instant before the units themselves roared to life. "How does Benny even get all these marbles and pellets?" she blinked musingly, before seeing a moving blur in her peripheral vision. His sword abruptly arced toward Aria's right arm, and as she dodged her plasma sword disappeared for a moment. "I guess I'm more tired than I thought," she realized. Time to give her powers a break for a while. Looking at where the blur's current path of motion appeared to be, Aria aimed a low kick towards where she projected Benny's shins would soon be. "Let's see if Kid Flash can be tripped up, shall we?"

Benny: As Aria moves straight into a low kick, she clips Benny's ankle. The impact sends him off course and he tumbles into an awkward dodge roll. Wincing, he picks himself back up. Laz wouldn't be happy if he didn't try his very best. Soon, there would be an opening. He'd already forced her to use her plasma sword. "Just keep swimming..." Dory always kept swimming, no matter what. While he speaks, the son of Hebe wraps his hands around the hilt of his sword and stands in a defensive position. "You're quicker than I thought, but I'm faster..."

Aria: Wait, was that a Finding Nemo line Aria heard, or was her mind just in an exceptionally reference-y mood? (Anyone who managed to quote Dory and make it work deserved an instant level up in respect, in Aria's opinion.) Refocusing on the duel, Benny obviously had the advantage of energy and experience, but Aria wasn't going to go down without fighting the odds. "Guess there's no point in saving my energy right now, is there?" she smiled wryly and resummoned her plasma sword. Slicing at Benny's right shoulder (he didn't seem to favor either arm in combat, but there was a higher chance of him being right-handed), Aria attempted to break Benny's defense and get him closer to the roof's edge.

Benny: "Whoa...." The plasma sword gives off an aura of heat. It makes him think of that one time when he baked with his neighbour and grabbed the tray without oven gloves. Swiftly, Benny switches his sword between his hands and backs away towards an AC unit. As Aria slashes for his right shoulder, his first instinct is to duck to the side. He does. Her sword narrowly misses him and slices into the unit, partially melting it instead. He's already taken a few bruises but he doesn't want any burns. "Careful...." The whirring of the exposed fan-blade goes off. There’s a tearing noise, his bag stuck between the slats in the vent. He curses Aria to feel the effects of age for a short time, which should slow her down and pulls harder. Unfortunately, the nails in his bag fall right into the live machinery. The AC cooler makes an ugly noise. “Uh-oh…” Benny runs straight for the fire escape, as the cooler sounds like it’s going to rain shrapnel all over them. “Fire in the hole! Quick, run for the fire escape. We’ll need cover….”

Aria: In the span of approximately twenty seconds, Aria and Benny had managed to go from waving swords at each other to running from an upset AC that was trying to kill them. That had to be some kind of world record. And now the roof was shaking. And the AC was making dying sounds. And there was ominous smoke coming out of it. AND she'd just gotten the most opportune back pain ever. Ugh, gods darn this insanity, the Fates were probably laughing and scarfing down popcorn while watching them right now! "What the fudge, how even?" Aria despaired, hobbling after Benny like an arthritic eighty-year-old before the random pain suddenly vanished again. "WHY even?!?" she cried, shifting into a sprint and trying to escape the impending fiery doom that awaited them.

Benny: Accidentally setting a building on fire isn't exactly the distraction Benny had planned. "I DON'T know!" He yells back, the cooler bursting into flames. As he runs down the fire escape, the cooler starts to fire shrapnel, the fanblade throwing itself off the building. Ugh. It's not good to swear, but he can't help but mutter a few low-level obscenities under his breath. "Crap...crap....crap...." He kicks in the fire door and heads downstairs. "Mom, please if you're listening, let me survive..." He begs. He stumbles over his tripwires, which click on activation. After a second, they would begin to rain down paint, which could make the floor slippery and obscure Aria's vision. Sure, they would help him win the fight. But he didn't expect to be running for his life, while dodging his own traps. "Sorry about that!" He shouts in her general direction.

Aria: "About wha--" Aria began to ask before she suddenly, inexplicably, unexpectedly turned purple. PURPLE. Coughing out paint and smoke and smoky paint and painty smoke, she fumbled to unzip her jacket and wipe the purpleness off her face. "I just knew that this place would be like Home Alone 2!" Aria grumbled to herself while spitting out paint. "Out of all the possible things, it just had to be the freaking death trap, didn't it?" In her haste and distraction, Aria's foot slipped in a pool of yellow and orange paint, which smeared all over her previously clean shirt when she faceplanted into it. "Why do I even bother asking anymore?!" she spluttered, scrambling across the colorful floor and being completely done with EVERYTHING. "Benny, you wanna just jump out of a window now and hope we make it? Breaking a leg would be better than putting up with this insanity for any longer!"

Benny: Glancing back towards the purple mess, which used to be Aria, Benny's hit by a yellow splash of colour. It drips down the back of his neck. "It's sooooo cold....." He shivers, trying to wipe the paint off his eyes with one of his sleeves. As Aria's coughing, he rips off one of his shirt sleeves and wraps it around his mouth. "Mm... we're nearly safe. I'll help you..." He offers her his hand, and tries to wade through the slippy floors without falling over anymore. This is the first time he's caught in one of his own traps. It had to be the time that the building was slowly burning to the ground. "Sorry! You can see in all directions, right?" Alex once mentioned something about Astraeus kids and enchaned sight. "I think we have to go that way..." He points randomly. Yes, it may be easier to jump out the building but Benny didn't want to risk breaking anything, should the plan go awry. "We could jump, but I don't want us to get hurt..."

Aria: "Danke," Aria exhaled as she pulled herself up using Benny's arm, calming down. "You're right, jumping isn't necessary, but it sure as heck is an appealing thought right now. I'll take a closer look around; it's definitely dark enough for me to see everything inside." She gazed vacantly into the distance for a second before rushedly yelling, "Don't go that way, Benny, that's a gas fireplace, which is a synonym of highly flammable stuff! Since we're kinda trying to avoid being barbecued, go straight ahead through the left door on the far wall. There's a sign that says those're the normal building stairs. The door opens away from the stairwell and still looks pretty sturdy, which'll protect us from the fumes and shrapnel a while longer, too." Breaking off into a run again, Aria pulled open the door and held it open. "Wipe as much paint off as you can; it could be flammable, and even if it isn't it'll make some nasty fumes under heat. Who designed this building to dump paint on people while they're fighting or escaping a fiery doom, anyways? That's cruel and unusual and completely freakin' unnecess--" Smoke had begun to spread ominously into the room. "--I'll shut up now. LET'S GO!"

Benny: "Umm...." Benny coughs. "Be careful. I set these traps... I think there are a few more on the stairs..." He replies, quickly scrambling through the door onto the normal stairs. Slamming the fireproof door, the son of Hebe takes a moment to breathe, and as Aria wisely suggested, wipe the rest of the paint off his face and his clothes. It suddenly dawns on him that the front doors of the complex are also booby-trapped. He curses himself for being too thorough, and resorts to humming 'Just Keep Swimming' underneath his breath to stay calm. "I may have also put traps on all the doors..." He scratches the side of his head in an awkward manner. If he got out of this alive, Aria would probably fire scarily hot plasma bolts at his butt. "Can you carry us both? I can try and give you a recharge." Benny points towards a nearby window, which is half-covered in debris. He puts his enhanced strength to good use, scrambling to move the rubble away and prop it up against a wall to form a makeshift ramp, so they could reach the high vaulted window. Taking his slingshot out his back pocket, he aims his sights on the glass window. "Ready.....?"

Aria: "You... put traps... on ALL the doors?" Aria stared warily at the door she'd just been holding open, half-expecting bricks to start raining down onto her face or something. After taking a bit longer than necessary to make sure that wouldn't happen, she turned back to Benny. "Well, there's nothing to be accomplished by yelling at you now," Aria sighed. Benny looked genuinely regretful, and even in the midst of a duel-turned-escape it was hard to stay angry at someone as lively as he was. "Yup, I'll make sure we don't turn into pancakes when we land," she replied, glancing out the window to see what was below. "Thanks, but you should save your energy just in case we get hurt; I'm definitely running on enough adrenaline to get us down." Stepping away from the falling glass shards (she'd had enough window damage for a day, thank you very much), Aria walked up to the ramp bottom. "Ideally we'd jump at the same time, but since the window's too small we'll have to go one at a time. Or I could try to carry you, but we wouldn't be able to jump as far, and ya might not be up for it..."

Benny: Having sprinted towards the door, presumably to take the paint if he had booby trapped the door, he finds that there's no sign of any trap. "Phew..." Benny wipes his forehead. "Um, not all the doors. Just the main ones. I figured that you'd come through this way. I had no idea the building itself would be on fire!" His blue eyes widen. He takes a deep breath through his bandanna and smashes the glass window with his slingshot ammunition. "We don't have enough time to find another route..." He coughs. "If you can get us close enough to the ground, I can always break fall." He shrugs his shoulders. "Hebe kids have accelerated healing and stamina. I think we should be okay..." Following Aria, Benny looks down. It's still fairly high. If he fell, it wouldn't be hard for him to end up as a Benny sized pancake. "C'mon....!"

Aria: "Right, going individually's the better option at this point; there's lots of debris directly below this window, so jump out as far as you can. I'll stand here and make sure ya don't fall too quickly or land on anything," Aria said rushedly, tying her hair back. "I'll go immediately after you reach the ground, so in case I get hurt while landing I won't be stranding ya in a burning building, and in case I get set aflame you'll be able to get help," she grimaced. "On three? One... two... three--"

Benny: "Umm, okay...." Closing his eyes, Benny stood up to the ledge. "I trust you/...." He jumps off the ledge, pushing himself against the debris to get as far off as possible. "Ahhhh....." His life flashes before his eyes, as he falls towards the ground. No amount of catlike reflexes would be able to save him from a flight this big. Then, the rate of falling seems to slow down, as he glides down towards solid ground. "Woooo....." He drops and rolls gracefully onto the floor, looking back to Aria. "Good job! Get down and I'll help you out. You can do it."

Aria: "Aaaaand touchdown!" Awesome, Benny didn't look dead at all, and she hadn't caught on fire yet! It may have just been nerves, but the stairwell seemed warmer now. "Better go now before I can find out exactly what the cause is," Aria muttered, running back up the ramp and leaping. For a moment she was flying forward, then gravity affirmed its presence and she fell downward. Free-fall was such an exhilarating feeling, and some subconscious part of Aria would've liked to keep falling all the way, but other parts screamed "WHAT THE HELSINKI FINLAND ARE YOU DOING, TRYING TO BE A STEREOTYPICAL SENSELESS DAREDEVIL HALF-BLOOD WHO WANTS TO DIE POINTLESSLY AND YOUNG?!?!" loudly enough to terrify that part into never speaking up. She decelerated until she could land safely in a crouch and looked around for Benny. "Alrighty, I'm intact enough. But we won't be for long if this place goes up entirely in flames and blows out all its windows, so let's run for it!"

Benny: "Awesome.....!" He grins, as they dramatically escape the burning building. If any trainers were watching, they would probably be pleased that the two made it out alive, without outside help. Reaching out for Aria's hand, he channels the last of his energy to restore her stamina and heal up any minor wounds which she may have gotten during the fight. "Umm, you did really good. Thanks for not dropping me on my face." He awkwardly scratches the side of his head. "You just need to be careful with disarms. C'mon, let's go and feed the ducks!" As Benny speaks, the skies suddenly begin to turn cloudy and it starts to rain cats and dogs.

Aria: "You've got plenty of skills yourself," Aria smiled. "With a sword, and apparently with paint cans of doom, too, haha!" Now that the immediate danger of painfully dying was over, recent events seemed way funnier. "Thank you for the restore buff, o awesome cleric, and for the extra XP too!" she beamed, reentering complete and utter nerd mode once again. As rainwater quelled the roaring flames before any windows or half-bloods could be harmed (a.k.a. destroyed several times over), Aria removed her paint-splattered jacket and held it up as a makeshift umbrella. "Ooh, nice, a free and all-natural rinse that doesn't involve polluting the duck pond hath been gifted to us from the sky gods." Once they reached the ducks she rummaged through her backpack (which she'd been meaning to leave by the pond but didn't get a chance to before the fight) and pulled out the rice box with her least paint-y hand. "Here, you take half, and let's try not to poison these cute little guys, shall we?"

Benny: "Well, all brave knights have to be good with a sword. How else are we gonna save the day when there's a hungry dragon on the loose...?" The rainwater drips down the back of his neck, cooling him down and soothing his minor wounds. His accelerated healing was already beginning to kick in. "Umm, no problem. Always happy to help restore your energy, oh mighty wizard!" He plays along with Aria's geekiness, though Benny was never the type to play World of Warcraft or anything similar in the fantasy genre. "Yeah... we should go feed them before the rice gets all wet...." Retracting his sword, the son of Hebe runs towards the duckpond, and takes a handful of rice. "Here ducky duckies....."

Aria: "A hungry, fire-spewing, majorly irritated dragon the size and shape of a building," Aria nodded. "Though our swords contributed to its major irritation, our prayers to the heavens did not go unanswered, and the blessed spell of rain we received hath quelled the dragon's roaring quite well. Aaaand now I think I'll stop with this extended metaphor before I kill it so much it becomes a zombie and attacks us." She sat down by the water's edge (the ground could totally use a buttprint of color anyways) and used the convenient deluge of precipitation to clean off her hands a bit more. "They seem to enjoy the rain," Aria noted, loosely packing the grains together and tossing the clump into the pond.

Benny: "Well, the fair maiden knew how to handle herself. She came from a falling star, from a land far far away. When she was found, she was adopted by the King and Queen, and raised in their Kingdom...." He teased, his mind racing ahead to make a fairytale story. Realising that the extended metaphor was over, he coughed awkwardly. "Umm yeah, zombies aren't a lot of fun. Ghosts can be pretty wicked and evil too, when they want to be." He shrugged his shoulders and kneeled on the ground, so the ducks could approach him without fear. "Come duckie duckies. We've got yummy rice...."